D&D 5E Latest D&D Errata: Drow, Alignment, & More

Sage Advice is a series of articles in which Jeremy Crawford, one of the D&D Studio’s game design architects, talks about the design of the game’s rules and answers questions about them.

Book Updates | Sage Advice | Dungeons & Dragons

This Sage Advice provides updates and errata for a number of books, as well as answers to rules questions.

dnd.wizards.com

D&D books occasionally receive corrections and other updates to their rules and story. This Sage Advice installment presents updates to several books. I then answer a handful of rules questions, focusing on queries related to Fizban’s Treasury of Dragons and Strixhaven: A Curriculum of Chaos.

Official errata has been published for the following books:

• Curse of Strahd
• Dungeon Master’s Guide
• Player’s Handbook
• Storm King’s Thunder
• Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide
• Tales from the Yawning Portal
• Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything
• Tomb of Annihilation
• Volo’s Guide to Monsters

Here's some of the highlights.

• Alignment is removed from the Racial Traits section of races.
• Drow have undergone lore changes which reflect the different types of drow. The 'darkness of the drow' sidebar which portrays them as only evil has been removed.
• Storm King's Thunder alters references to 'Savage Frontier' and 'barbarians'; Curse of Strahd alters references to the Vistani.
• The controversial Silvery Barbs spell has been clarified.

As a drow, you are infused with the magic of the Underdark, an underground realm of wonders and horrors rarely seen on the surface above. You are at home in shadows and, thanks to your innate magic, learn to con- jure forth both light and darkness. Your kin tend to have stark white hair and grayish skin of many hues.

The cult of the god Lolth, Queen of Spiders, has cor- rupted some of the oldest drow cities, especially in the worlds of Oerth and Toril. Eberron, Krynn, and other realms have escaped the cult’s influence—for now. Wherever the cult lurks, drow heroes stand on the front lines in the war against it, seeking to sunder Lolth’s web.

 

[Umbran]

When I am king of the known universe, I am going to errata bad toppings from pizza.

And New Zealand too. Can't be too careful when it comes to preserving pizza!

Did anyone think New Zealand was a good topping for pizza?

Or are you trying to keep bad toppings off New Zealand? "I'd like to have New Zealand, with ham and pineapple, to go, please!"

 

[HammerMan]

Bunnies eat their young when even slightly stressed.

Owls are silent engines of death.

Totally not gritty.

Edit: as if 'gritty' was a universal positive'

Yeah Stealth apex predator's totally not a gritty D&D idea...

 

[Professor Murder]

100% I'm honestly surprised it hasnt been done already in some capacity, but for SURE they all get dropped in 5.5.



Not sure I follow, but nah, I dont believe you are a scoundrel.

Very well.

 

[Staffan]

The Wall of the Faithless thing is a FR thing only, in every other campaign setting Atheists go to through whatever afterlife process that all of the faithful go through. In the Great Ring cosmology they probably won't end up in the realms of any deities, but they'll still be petitioners on an Outer Plane that suits how they were in life.

Like many things, I prefer the Eberron afterlife.

Once you're dead, your soul goes to Dolurh, the plane of the Dead, where it gradually fades away. Those who follow the Sovereign Host claim that this is a process where the souls of the faithful are gradually transferred to some form of paradise outside the Multiverse, to be with the gods. Those who follow the Silver Flame believe that they will merge with the Flame and strengthen it.

And those who follow the Blood of Vol say "Once you're dead, you're gone. Those other fools might believe otherwise, but there's no proof of that. It's just a system for the gods to prevent us mortals from nurturing our own divine sparks into fullblown godhood. And that sucks. Any gods who would take part in something like that is inherently evil, and we reject them entirely. All we have is this life, and our community, and we'd better make the most of it."

 

[Cadence]

When I am king of the known universe, I am going to errata bad toppings from pizza.

And New Zealand too. Can't be too careful when it comes to preserving pizza!

Visiting Germany I was horrified to find out about tuna (apparently canned) on pizza... can you add that to the list?

 

[Bolares]

Edit- Ninja'd by Umbran!

That's what you get for taking forever to write one post you bard

 

[HammerMan]

There's probably a bunch of good reasons they'd drop real world ones.

2e was the last edition to have the Hindu Gods in D&D. While I'm not Hindu, I certainly disagree with Shiva and Kali been given Evil alignments. I could only imagine how much worse actual Hindus might actually look on D&D's treatment of the rest of them.

yes 100%. Imagine the uproar if they stated JC... the entire world would be upside down. Providing lists of "Here are some gods worshipped in the past and what domain they might have" is pushing it... giving a full name/write up in a setting I think should be a bridge too far for 5.5/6/anniversary edition

 

[darjr]

Witchlight and Strixhaven are many things, gritty is not one of them. You literally can play Fairies, Bunnies,and Owls .

You can’t, I forbid it.

 

[Kobold Avenger]

Pineapple on Pizza was invented in London, Ontario. Which is part of my country even though I like to pretend everything east of the Rocky Mountains doesn't exist. Therefore I'm obliged to stand up for it, like how I'm supposed to for Hockey and Maple Syrup.

 

[Alzrius]

why can't a fairie, rabbit, or owl be gritty? Have you ever read any of Jim Butchers Dresden FIles, they are FULL of gritty fey.

I don't recall any of those fey being talking bunnies. Trying to make them gritty tends to come across as something like this: